Customer Reviews

Kinderszenen / Carnival

5 star:		(3)
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Kinderszenen and Carnaval are among the most popular pieces for solo piano written by Schumann. This disc offers a lovely performance of these 2 pieces along with the Vienna Carnaval by Daniel Barenboim (from the end of 70-s).

Barenboim's Carnaval is flawless. Everything comes in right proportions - tempo, moods, characters for each piece and for the whole drive of the cycle.
Vienna Carnaval gets a very poetic and charming interpretation. As for the Kinderszenen, I can't say that this is the ultimate one, to my mind it's too smooth and sometimes the contrasts between the pieces could be more sharp, but still in fact it is very skillful and full of good taste.

If you're not familiar to Schumann's piano pieces - this CD is the best one to start with.
In other case - you'll just get much pleasure. This music will call you back again and again.

Overall, these are excellent performance of some of Schumann's most positive and joyful music. Barenboim, prone as his is to slow tempos, finds it in himself to discard the tendency toward introspection in the light and enjoyable Kinderszenen.
The two festive pieces, the op. 26 Faschingschwank aus Wien (Carnival Jest from Vienna) and the op 9 Carnaval, are more approachable than much of Schumann's piano music, but not quite as simple as the Kinderszenen. Barenboim is a little more what we expect from him these two pieces, never in a hurry, always searching for the unseen nuances in the melody. But, he is never excessive in his exploration, the music still has an exciting momentum about it.
I always found it curious that Dietrich Fischer Dieskau chose Christoph Eschenbach as his accompaniest for his cycle of the Schumann Lieder (no longer available I believe) when he already had a great relationship with Barenboim in the leider of Hugo Wolf. This disk only adds to my curiosity, given the great range of moods Barenboim proves himself more than up to the task for.
All and all, one of my favorite solo piano disks.

Daniel Barenboim's performances of Robert Schumann's most popular solo piano pieces--"Kinderszenen," "Carnaval," and "Faschingsschwank aus Wien"--are exquisite, showing that care and panache can exist side-by-side. This joyous and touching music--revealing no hint of the mental darkness that would eventually engulf its composer--are a high-water mark of German Romanticism, and Barenboim does them full justice in these beautiful, idiomatic performances. Particularly considering this disc's mid-range price, it's a must-have for any Schumann fan.